


In The Shadow Of The Bat

by CorsairLord



Category: Batman: Arkham - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:01:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22921453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorsairLord/pseuds/CorsairLord
Summary: In a Gotham without a Batman, his shadow still reigns long. His successors carry on his mission.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Barbara Gordon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	In The Shadow Of The Bat

It was one month after The Siege of Gotham that Bruce Wayne's funeral was held. 

Most weren't sure he was even dead, but all agreed that they needed to lay something to rest, to mark the end of an era.

Nearly a decade and a half of protection under the watchful eye of the Dark Knight, a mere drop in the bucket of time to some, but to Gotham it was an era of hope. Of courage.

In a world of gods and monsters, a man watched over Gotham and tried his best to keep it safe. He was not perfect. He was not always so vigilant. And he himself would tell you that he was not a good man. 

But Gotham revered him, loved him. 

Feared him. 

Even in death he cast a long shadow on the world, in his friends and partners. In his adopted children and those he'd inspired to fight against the darkness. Everything he touched he left a mark on. Everyone he touched, he left an impression.

His was a life of masks, of duty, and ultimately of sacrifice.

When the coffin filled with Gotham dirt and his first suit was laid to rest alongside his parents, over a thousand people attended, and more than six million mourned. 

Those who attended were a veritable whose who of heroes, villains and those in between. The JLA was there, their two remaining founders clad in black, with tear streaked eyes. The entire extended Batfamily attended, from his first son Nightwing to his last Robin and everyone in between-even his newly minted successor, an outsider let in only because of their fallen leader's wish. The soon to be elected mayor of Gotham attended, still wondering why the world had been so cruel to one so good, as well as hundreds of GCPD officers, each with a story about the Batman. Victor Fries attended, with a promise to give himself in afterwards, as he only wished to say goodbye to a man who had always understood his pain and treated him with respect. Selina Kyle briefly flitted about before she saw his mask laid atop the dark wood coffin, and retreated to her vehicle, to privately mourn for the man she'd grown to care for and who cared for her. 

And from afar, from a treeline that overlooked the hill where Wayne Manor once sat, his erstwhile Robin watched it through the scope of his rifle, and felt the battle rage within himself as he wondered why it hurt so much to see a man he hated buried and gone. 

Many were the speeches told about the Batman that day, as the assembled crowd laughed, cried and remembered a man who had given himself to the world, who had done everything he could to save everyone. 

As the funeral wound down and the sun began to set, many began to leave, to one of the many gatherings being held across the city, and the nation, to remember the Batman, to ensure he would for one last night, live again. If only in the memories of those he gave all he had for. 

As the last mourner slowly walked away, with a tearful goodbye to a man he had been honoured to call his son, his erstwhile Robin approached, and stared at the grave of the man who he'd fought alongside and against. 

It took every ounce of his strength not to fall to his knees and beg his forgiveness, and yet it was the easiest thing to place his Robin pin amongst the various tributes left for the Dark Knight. 

"I remembered everything. And I'll always remember you. I should be there. Not you. I couldn't save you…just like you couldn't save me. But I'll watch over Gotham. Over them. You deserve that much. I can't be you. I'm too weak. But I can be the fear. Not the hope or the guardian. But the fear. I'll take that burden gladly. I…I miss you Bruce. I wish you knew that. I wish I could tell you that. But I can't. Goodbye, Batman."

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

It'd been a year since the Batman had died and crime was…it was different in Gotham. Those who had sought to take advantage of the chaos were violently struck down by those who carried the mantle of responsibility for Gotham. The partnership of Robin and the White Bat had proven an effective one, with the once Azrael living up to his predecessor's hopes, and the last Robin admirably continuing the mission of his mentor. Together they had stopped many of Batman's foes, and would stop any who threatened the city they loved. 

But on the other side of the coin, those few who continued to trespass against Gotham, against her people and defenders, they were brutally reminded that there must be a counterbalance to the brightest light, that there must be the darkest night. 

And the Red Hood was all the happier to remind them of it, while The Ghost existed in the nebulous realm of fact and fiction, and kept the fear of the Batman alive and well. 

The Hood had never encountered The Ghost in person, but he had seen them from afar once, and even he had trouble explaining away what he saw, a fiery demon bat, one with the shadows and the bats that heralded his arrival. The only thing he was sure of was that whatever The Ghost was, it helped him. Helped make thugs afraid of the dark, helped cow the masterminds and players of Gotham into a kind of enforced peace. With these twin evolutions of fear in shadiest parts of Gotham, the Red Hood soon became a name reviled and feared, as he proved that he was not in fact, the Batman. 

He had no qualms about putting down those who stepped over the line, who continually threatened Gotham and her people. More than once he'd lost control and slaughtered a score of criminals, from dusk until dawn, because of what he had seen. 

But he tried to remember what Bruce had taught him. He tried to ask questions first and shoot later. Those who surrendered, who were repentant to any degree, he showed mercy. 

And so began his myth, of a man with a Red Hood, a man with a red bird on his chest, a man who fought like the Batman, and a man who killed. He would be no great hero to Gotham, vicious as he was, but he became a symbol of it all the same.

Of her Vengeance.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

"Jason. Jason I know this is your goddamn comm channel, so answer me you bastard."

He tentatively ignored the voice in his helm as he switched to a different channel and weaved in between the narrow alleys of Gotham on his bike. 

He had been dreading the day when one of his former family members found him, or tried to contact him. Especially her. 

"Nice try, but I have full control over that helmet of yours so either speak to me or I'll black out the visor and crash you into a building. And I don't think you're willing to destroy it, so speak dammit."

"What do you want."

"A lot of things, but right now I need your help."

"Uh-huh, I think I'll pass."

"You owe me you son of a bitch. You owe this city, and you fucking owe Bruce. Because of you, Batman is dead. So you will help me, because I know somewhere deep down in there, there's still the boy that that man took in, that I considered a friend, that isn't such a coward."

It cut him deeper than he imagined to hear her like that. 

She well and truly hated him.

That made the two of them he supposed. 

"What do you need?"

"I need you to help save Robin. Two-Face has him at the Solomon Wayne Courthouse in Old Arkham City. He's threatening to kill him in two hours if White Bat doesn't show up."

"So why can't he?" 

"Because he's in Rome, chasing down a lead about the Order of St. Dumas, the people who made him."

"What about Nightwing, Batwoman, why me?" 

"Because Dick is busy in Blüdhaven dealing with Deathstroke and the remains of your militia after they broke out, and Kate is busy helping the JLA and I can't reach her. Trust me, Jason, you're my last, worst option."

"Alright. I'll save the bird."

"You better. I'll let the GCPD know to expect you."

"They gonna be okay with letting me through?" 

"No, but I don't care, you're the only one who can take down Two-Face without getting Robin killed. I could, but since the Joker crippled me I can't really walk. Funny how I didn't become a murderous psychopath because of it though, right?" 

"No, you just lost the ability to be Batgirl. That suit still collecting dust in the Clock Tower? Or have you finally gotten rid of it since you'll never wear it again?" 

No reply came over his comms as he turned down the the street and onto the bridge leading to Old Arkham City. 

"Yeah that's what I thought."

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

It was easy enough to enter the courthouse once he'd gotten past the reluctant cops at the barricade outside. They didn't like him. 

Probably because he'd killed more than a few corrupt cops over the past year, executions really. 

Two-Face's gang was on edge, nervous and trigger happy, a fact he exploited as he used simple tricks like flickering a light, breaking a nearby window and dropping a flashbang down the vents to send the perimeter guards into a mad scramble towards him. 

He relished it. 

"You have access to the lights?" 

"Yeah, why?" 

"Cut them in the hallway leading to the outer balcony. When I tell you, turn them back on."

"Done."

As soon as the lights turned off, he aimed his grapnel at the ceiling and shot up to it, anchoring himself on the exposed crossbeam of ceiling, before crouching close to the ceiling and waited. 

After a minute the gang members rushed towards the balcony entrance, desperate to kill any possible intruder before their boss found out that his 'indictment' had been interrupted. 

The Hood always enjoyed that fear in his prey's eyes before he struck, it reminded him that he did that, that he was alive and in control. The thugs eyes were rich with the emotion, and he committed the sight to memory before he drew his Jerichos and looked down. 

"Now."

As soon as the lights turned back on, the thugs looked up at them, with four of them catching a .45 Super with their skulls before they saw the Red Hood, and another three before they managed to aim their rifles at him. 

Unclipping himself from the ceiling, he fell into the midst of the three remaining thugs, rolling as he hit the ground, and unloaded the rest of his right Jericho into the thugs and waited for a moment, listening for anyone else to come running towards the gunfire. 

As the moment passed he removed and replaced the magazine of his right gun, placing the empty one on the inside of his jacket pocket. No sense in wasting good magazines by leaving them every time he emptied one. 

"Was that necessary? The GCPD are on edge already. Everytime you fire a bullet, they might decide to breach."

"Don't worry, next bullet is going into Dent. Won't matter if Gotham's Finest breach. And yes. It was. I don't have the benefit of the latest Lucius Fox equipment. Bruce's suit could take a 12.7 at range even where there wasn't armor plates and he'd be fine with that liquid gel. Mine can barely take a 45 at range."

"Whatever you have say to justify it, Jason."

"I'm not justifying it. My results do that for me, Barbara."

"Fine. Just hurry up and save Robin so I don't have to talk to you anymore than is necessary."

Leaving it at that, he walked out of the hallway to the balcony overlooking the courtroom, complete with Harvey Dent listing off charges perpetrated by Robin on top of the Judge's box, with Robin tied to the statue of Justice next to him. The assembled thugs were practically jammed into the room. 

Any wrong move and Dent would kill Robin, and even if Dent was taken care of, there was still the matter of the thugs. 

It was time to get creative. 

"You said you have control over my helmet?" 

"Yeah. Full control."

"Modify my voice synthesizer to transmit my words in Batman's voice."

"What?"

"Do it, Barbara. I need something to throw Dent off."

"I-Fine…give it a try, I need to get the pitch right."

"How do I sound?" 

"...like him."

Her voice said more than her words did. She missed him just as he did, and here he was dredging him up.

"Alright. Good."

Making his way to the upper level, he stood on the ledge and amplified his voice via his synthesizer. 

"Harvey. Let him go." 

"B-Bruce?"

" ** _Batman. You're supposed to be dead_**."

"And you're supposed to be locked up Harvey. You wanted the White Bat. Here's the Red Hood. Let Robin go and we can solve this. Just me and you."

"You've changed Bruce."

" ** _Always said you'd never kill. Guess that changed when Scarecrow got to you_**."

"I did. I had to change. How about we leave it to that coin of yours, Harvey? Heads, you let Robin go. Tails, you kill the both of us."

"Come around to our way of thinking, huh?" 

" ** _You ready to die, Batman_**?" 

"Always."

As Harvey drew his coin from inside his ruined suit jacket, his remaining hand dropped to the ground, placing Robin out of harm's way, as long as the coin was in play. 

With a nod at the Hood, Harvey flipped it, and just as it reached the highest point of its arc, a shot rang out through the courthouse. 

Harvey barely managed to catch the coin and slap it on his upper hand and share the fate of the coin before he began to fall as red blossomed outward from his chest, a single red stain on the pristine white. 

"Heads…"

The court fell silent then, as they watched a legend die. 

Not moments after, the GCPD SWAT team came bursting in from the windows on either side of the courthouse, tear gas and flashbangs heralding their arrival. 

At that, the Hood zipped down to Robin, and cut the ropes off of him, before he managed to haul the coughing man onto him and grapple away and out a window. 

"You shot Harvey."

"Yeah I did. Whatever he once was, he's been dead for a long time. I did what should have been done years ago. I got your bird, Barbara. We're done."

"Bar-Barbara?" 

"That's right, Robin. Your wife threatened to seriously injure me because you got caught by the formerly beloved DA."

"How did you know?" 

"I brought Gotham to its knees in a night, I trained an army and you're wondering how I know about you being Mrs. Tim Drake? I read the society page, Barbara. Robin, been a pleasure, hope to never see you again."

At that, the Hood left the recovering Robin on the rooftop and turned off his comms, both ignorant to the figure that watched from afar. 

His erstwhile Robin would never fully align with his brothers and sisters again, but he would do well by them and Gotham.

It made The Ghost's burden just slightly lighter.


End file.
